A keen observation has shown that majority of juveniles sent to the correctional homes become hardened criminals after their release, Executive Director of Child Research and Resource Centre (CRRECENT) Madam Susan Sabaa has said.
According to her, most notorious armed robbers once passed through juvenile homes and attributed the problem to improper reintegration into the society.
She made comments at the Juvenile Offender Management and Criminogenic Behaviour Change Treatment Practitioner’s Training at the Borstal Home of the Ghana Prisons Service.
“Over 200 juveniles we have personally worked with to give them better living went back to worse forms of crime,” she said.
In her view, the rehabilitation programme with the aim to reintegrate them back into society is questionable.
In light of this, she said CRRECENT initiated the Juvenile Offender Management and Criminogenic Behaviour Change Treatment Practitioner’s Training to help serve the purpose of the rehabilitation center.
The programme is expected to train staff on Criminogenic Behaviour Change unit within the counseling unit of the center.
The Unit when operational will enhance behaviour reformation at the Senior Correctional Centre and subsequently facilitate effective re-integration into society.
She said the move has become necessary due to the recent upsurge in armed robbery cases involving the youth who invariably have had juvenile offending records and believes will contribute immensely to prevent escalation of criminal behaviour after release.
Madam Susan, however, is appealing to Government to support the implementation of these policies with the necessary resources in order to secure the future human resources who are the young ones of today.
She further appealed to the general public and families to welcome these young ones, accept and support them since they have no criminal record.
Ghana | Atinkaonline.com |Simon Agbovi|[email protected]